Well, let's just say i hope it is - I'm writing this as attempt #3 is finishing up in the oven...
Yes, you read that right - i've made this 3 times now and i'm only just blogging about it... but thats cause its ATTEMPT #3 - meaning the first two? not blog-worthy...
In an effort to make your attempts more successful than mine were, ill tell you what went wrong.
attempt #1 - i overmixed. Plain and simple. When directions tell you to mix until just combined - there's a reason for that... if you overmix the bread gets chewy and hard and neither of those in a good way. I may have also over-baked... (my coworkers ate it without complaint, but i dont think they're a picky bunch...)
attempt #2 - I underbaked. I was nervous of the over-baking, so i pulled it out early. and it was not right. i wont tell you what it looked like but suffice it to say, it didnt look like anything one would want to eat... (we managed to salvage a few ends that were, in fact, cooked but not enough to call it any sort of success...)
For attempt #3, i decided to scrap the original recipe. I'd been working from a recipe I'd found in a million places on the internet, but have traced back to vneck and a cardigan... but then i came across Mark Bittman's banana bread recipe and i thought - ooh, maybe i'll combine that with the nutella-ness of the other, dial back the amount of nutella (as i suspect that contributed to the gooey mess that was the second one) and i'm still hoping that is my winner...
if you see a pretty picture above, it means i won. If you see a pile of mess above, it means i lost. because the this is my third and final attempt and i'm blogging it either way. because if it didnt work this time, well, i give up...
Banana-Nutella Bread
inspired by a combination of Mark Bittman - How to Cook Everything and V-Neck and a Cardigan
2 c all purpose flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 c brown sugar
1/4 c white sugar
3 - 4 small bananas, very ripe and mashed well (it was about 1 c of banana mash)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
~ 1/3 c nutella (homemade or store-bought) (a)
***
preheat oven to 350°
generously grease loaf pan, set aside
mix flour, baking powder and salt together and set aside
cream butter and sugars until fluffy
add mashed banana, eggs & vanilla to butter mixture & mix until well combined
using nothing more than a spatula or wooden spoon, gently incorporate the flour mixture. DO NOT OVERMIX. its ok if there are lumps...
pour most of the batter into your greased loaf pan, reserving about 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup.
mix nutella and reserved batter until just combined.
pour nutella mixture over top of the loaf and use a spatula or a knife to swirl in. swirl well. make it count.
Bake 50 mins. If after 50 mins, it appears to still be underbaked (a knife will come out fairly clean when its baked) put back in the oven for another 10 minutes.
if its still underbaked, reduce oven temperature to 325° and bake in 5 minute increments until fully cooked.
remove from oven and allow to cool for ~ 15 minutes in its pan, then, remove from loaf pan and cool on a rack.
(a) I meant to do this with ~ 1/2 of a cup of nutella... but we'd been at the booze experiment all day and i guess my math skills were not so good...
